Andreas makes a solid argument for making Glorantha more accessable.
I agree with that 100%. The more the merrier.
Discussing the Hero Wars MECHANICS on this digest has never been
encouraged by the developers, and has often been downright mooted
with statements akin to "the rules have changed since you read them"
or "that's not what the latest draft is like", or other similar
"you don't know what you're talking about" comments. I understand
the developers concerns over the futility of trying to argue about
a changing rules system, but that mostly misses the core point
of the questions being asked by the 99% of us (me included) that
don't really know what the new Hero Wars system will be like:
we want to stay engaged or become engaged in exploring the
gaming world of Glorantha - and the rules help make that possible.
Thus, I'll brave the storm and try to give them my take on the
upcoming (still in playtest) rules:
- HW is a rules-light storytelling game.
- Gone or greatly simplified are character stats, armor points,
hit locations and 99% of the previous RQ number crunching.
- The closest thing to a numbers game are the general skills
that the Player character possesses. These are things like:
Close Combat, Storm Magic, Cover Tracks, Stare Down Men,
Death Gaze, and the like.
- Combat is now generally referred to as a contest. One person
pits the skill of their choice against the skill of their
opponent. This is a little like an opposed roll in Pendragon.
- Simple actions are just you rolling against your skill. An
example of this would be running up to a horse and jumping
into the saddle, or climbing a wall. Every skill is measured
from 2 to 19. The lower the number the better. You have to
roll equal to or below your skill to succeed. A roll of
1 is great, and a roll of 20 is bad most of the time.
- Success is measured by having it fall into four categories:
(The terms here have probably changed in the actual rules,
but the concept is still valid for an overview)
FUMBLE: real bad stuff happens to you
FAIL: you're hurt, but still in there
SUCCEED: you've got the upper hand
CRITICAL: real bad stuff happens to your opponent
- To make contests and actions scalable, so you can either
play a hick from the sticks or Cragspider, they have added
the concept of mastery of a skill. This is represented with
the enigmatic "W" (as in 15WWW) in many people's posts here.
Each W is a mastery rune, which looks way cooler if you use
the rune font when typing it out. Each level of mastery lets
you bump up your CATEGORY of success by one level. Thus, if
I have 15WWW and roll a 20, normally giving me a fumble, I
use my three levels of mastery to make it a critical. Really
powerful types can have more than 3 levels of mastery, so
when they fight each other they partially cancel out,
such as a 3W versus 15WW ends up being 3 versus 15W.
- All abilities are modified by your followers, magic, and
many other things. Worshippers often pool their points
together to achive some big effects.
- The experience system is very simple, yet effective, and
rewards storytelling and plot advancement instead of rolling.
- Glorantha as a mythic and magical world is 1000% more defined.
You can heroquest, become a god, or be a farmer worshipping
in the mud to bless his crops, all using the same system.
All of the above is a vast simplification of the rules, and gives
you no idea of what 90% of the rule books are all about, which is
the history, background and mythic depth of Glorantha. Glorantha
will be far more digestible and playable.
Also, I like discussing Onslaught and the way he does and does
not fit into a heroic mold, especially when it comes to emulating
his god in all his aspects. I also find debating his Hero Wars
statistics to be a waste of bandwidth. I put the "can Onslaught
kill Harrek or Jar Eel or Argrath" debate into the same category
of "my dad can beat up your dad" type of arguments, so I'll leave
that topic alone.
Plus, since I'm a shameless collector and have a wide variety of
things to sell, contact me if there is anything RQ2 you are looking
to purchase. A list is on the website listed below.
Lastly, get a great Hero Wars Experience by coming to Convulsion
2000 this July. check out our website:
http://ourworld.cs.com/rjmeints/news.htm
Enjoy.
Rick
End of The Glorantha Digest V7 #360